This post has been reposted here from a course that I am currently doing for Sydney CEO (even though I’m now part of Parramatta 🙂 ) Original post, with the rest of the course, is at shortcomp.blogger.com

A podcasts is simply a free video or audio file that is distributed over the internet
through a podcasting program like iTunes. Video podcasts are often referred to as “Vodcasts”, however, in this post when I refer to podcasts, I mean both audio and video.

The name podcast is an amalgamation of iPod and broadcast, however, you do not
need an iPod or any sort of MP3 player to play them, you can just use a normal
computer.

There is great benefit in using podcasts for aiding student understanding of content. There is a wide variety of podcasts availiable on itunes, and through the regular internet that cover a variety of topics. You can do things that can’t be done in the classroom, or just use it as a review of content that involves complex concepts, that will assist students in being able to watch/listen multiple times. They can also be used for teaching concepts on a need-to-know basis, when placed online so that students can watch/listen when they need to know the concept to apply it.

Following is an example of a podcast from Dr Carlson. A colleague of mine, a great science teacher, Oriana Miano showed me this, so credit to her for finding it.

The following is a podcasts that I have created for the purpose of explaining concepts that need going over that students consistantly misunderstand. This podcast was created using a livescribe pen, which is a new technology that records while you write.

Some web-based websites you can find podcasts.
The Education Podcast Network http://epnweb.org/
ABC National Podcasts http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/
CSIRO Podcasts http://www.csiro.au/products/CSIROpod.html
An educational Podcast Directory http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/channel-list.php
NASA Podcasting http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/
Naked Scientist http://www.thenakedscientists.com/

How to.

Funnily enough, when I was at Freeman(I no longer am), I taught a staff development day with Oriana on how to podcast, so I have included the how-to guide here for anyone to use if they wish to use it. It is PC based, because Freeman is a PC school. Now that I’m a Mac user, I will probably write one for mac when I get some free time (okay, so it will be a while in coming)

One thing that is a little annoying, is trying to access the itunes store through the proxy. After hours of searching, and reflecting, I finally figured out that the proxy settings are set through IE on Windows, and you need to change the proxy settings here, even if you don’t use Internet Explorer regularly. Obviously, on a Mac, it’s easy enough just to change the location setting under the apple menu.

Podcasting Downloading
Free Programs you can use:
Mac
Garage Band
Jing
Photobooth

PC
Debut Video Capture
Audacity
Whatever your webcam software is…

Getting Students to create Podcasts/Vodcasts is a really great way to get students to publish their work, particularly those that are more vocal rather than good with writing. It’s also a great way to get those more shy students to “perform” in a lower risk environment. At the moment, in our year 9 program, students are creating a media watch style podcast in order to critique media portrayal of the catholic viewpoint of a topic, and the students are really heavily critically analysing the medias veiwpoints and perspectives of the media.